It just got a lot more important to tell Secretary Kerry that the Keystone XL pipeline is not in our national interest. This week, we moved one big
step closer to a final decision when the State Department inspector
general gave the seal of approval to the State Department's oil-industry
written, sham environmental analysis - turning a blind eye to the clear
conflict of interest in allowing TransCanada to handpick the
oil-industry contractor who wrote the report. While the flawed environmental analysis clearly shows that Keystone XL has a significant impact on climate change pollution, many are speculating that the report gives Secretary Kerry and President Obama room to go either way in their final decision.
The final decision could come down to which side makes the most noise.
The oil industry is going to the mat right now, using shady robocalls
in pipeline states to collect comments in support of the pipeline. We
need to speak much, much louder.
Keystone XL has become a
watershed test to determine if President Obama and Secretary Kerry's
action on climate change will match their increasingly strong rhetoric. We don't know how they're
going to decide. But we know that their words are not enough. We know
that the president and secretary of state simply can't lead on climate
as long as they are giving the green light to foreign oil companies to
double down on extraction of the very dirtiest kinds of fossil fuels, at
our nation's expense.
And we know that they are going to make a final decision soon.
President Obama recently told governors gathered at the White House
that he expected a decision in the coming months, the first time he has
committed to a substantive timeline.
Thanks for taking a stand against tar sands, and for a brighter future for all of us.
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